


WHEN MOTHER 

• LETS US DRAW • 


E.R.LEE THAYER - 


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“WHEN MOTHER LETS US” SERIES 

Each volume, price 75 cents net (postage 10 cents extra ) 
When Mother Lets Us Cut Out Pictures. By Ida E. Boyd. 
When Mother Lets Us Keep Pets. By Constance Johnson. 
When Mother Lets Us Garden. By Frances Duncan. 

When Mother Lets Us Sew. By Virginia Ralston. 

When Mother Lets Us Play. By Angela M. Keyes. 

When Mother Lets Us Help. By Constance Johnson. 

When Mother Lets Us Give a Party. By Elsie Duncan Yale. 
When Mother Lets Us Cook. By Constance Johnson. 

When Mother Lets Us Act. By Stella George Stern Perry. 
When Mother Lets Us Make Gifts. By Mary B. Grubb. 

When Mother Lets Us Make Paper-Box Furniture. 
By G. Ellingwood Rich. 

When Mother Lets Us Make Toys. By G. Ellingwood Rich. 

When Mother Lets Us Make Candy. By Elizabeth and 
Louise Bache. 

When Mother Lets Us Carpenter. By John D. Adams. 
When Mother Lets Us Model. By Helen Mortimer Adams. 

When Mother Lets Us Make Playthings. By G. Elling¬ 
wood Rich. 

When Mother Lets Us Draw. By Emma R. Lee Thayer. 


For brief description of each volume, tee page facing last page of text 




WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 
























































































WHEN MOTHER LETS US 
DRAW 


By E. R. LEE THAYER 

Art Director of 
The Decorative Designers 



NEW YORK 

MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 
1916 



Copyright, 1916, by 
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 




» 

■SEP (9 1916 


©CI.A43773 3 

"VuD ( . 


TO 

B. P. L. H. 

THIS LITTLE BOOK 
IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED. 





« 










TABLE OF CONTENTS 


PAGE 

What Betty Calls “Perspective”.14 

A Study of Leaves.18 

How the Cherry Grows.19 

The Surprise Fire-cracker, and How to Draw a Per¬ 
fect Square.23 

How to Draw and Build a Little House .... 28 

The Nasturtium . 33 

Our First Out-of-doors Sketching. 35 

Sketching with Brush and India Ink. 36 

How to Draw Birds.38 

Pencil Sketching.41 

A Little Store and How to Draw and Build It . .43 

How Tom Made a Funny Bear .46 

A Picnic—with Blackberries.48 

My First Pencil Sketch.49 

Bobby Makes a Jack o’ Lantern.51 

Hallowe’en Candle Shade, and How to Make Them . 53 

Tom’s Little Doggie.58 

How I Drew a Bunch of Grapes.61 

The Children’s Thanksgiving Turkeys.63 

How We Made a Windmill.66 

Tom’s Crow.67 

Interesting Things About Apples.70 


9 















10 TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PASE 

Our Puppies Climb the Stairs.70 

The Holly for Christmas.74 

How to Make a Kitty Pen-wiper.74 

Using Holly for a Book Mark.77 

A “Snow-scape”.78 

Two Christmas Cards.80 

The Santa Claus I Made for Bobbie's Stocking . . 83 

A Snow-scape for New Year’s.84 

How a Little Lady May Be a Calendar .... 87 

Bobbie’s Valentine.88 

The Valentines Tom and I Made.90 

How Tom Made a St. Patrick's Piggy.93 

An Easter Candle Shade, and How We Made It . . 94 

Tom’s Bunnies.99 

More Easter Bunnies.100 

How I Drew an Easter Lily.103 

My Lily Book Mark.103 

How We Made a Little Church.105 

Our Little Dutch Boy.108 

What Pansies Are For.110 

A Fairy Birthday Card for Grandmother . . . .113 

How the Dandelion Grows.115 

A Picnic by Grandmother’s Brook.115 

The Beautiful Fleur-de-lys.118 

Tom Sketches Again.118 

How Tom Drew a Picture of Old Sukey .... 120 
We All Make Cards for Mother’s Birthday . . . 123 




















LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

“When Mother Lets Us Draw” .... Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Diagram of Block in Perspective.15 

Leaves.17 

Cherries..20 

The Surprise Fire-cracker.22 

A House for the Little Village of Faraway ... 27 

Nasturtiums.32 

Sketching Out-of-doors.34 

Fields and Trees.37 

Sparrows.. 

Grandmother’s House.42 

A Store for the Little Village of Faraway . . 43—44 

A Funny Bear.45 

Blackberries .47 

Farmer Brown’s House.50 

A Jack o’ Lantern Favor.52 

Hallowe’en Candle Shade; Diagram; Pattern; The 
Witch; The Owl; How the Candle Shade Looks 

When Finished.53-57 

A Little Doggie . 59 

Grapes.00 

A Thanksgiving Place-card.62 

A Wind-mill for the Little Village of Faraway . 64-65 

A Crow.. • • 68-69 

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12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Apples.71 

Our Puppies.72-73 

Holly Branch.75 

A Kitty Pen-wiper.76 

A Christmas Book-mark.77 

A Winter Sketch from Grandmother’s Window . . 79 

Two Christmas Cards.81 

Santa Claus.82 

A “Snow-scape” from My Window.85 

A Calendar.86 

Bobbie’s Valentine.89 

Another Valentine.90 

A St. Patrick’s Piggie.92 

A Butterfly Candle Shade.94-97 

Bunnies.98 

A Bunny Easter Card.99 

Some More Easter Cards.101 

Lilies.102 

A Lily Book Mark.104 

A Church for the Little Village of Faraway 106-107 

A Little Dutch Boy.109 

Pansies .Ill 

A Fairy Birthday Card.112 

Dandelions.114 

White Birches.116 

A Fleur-de-lys.117 

An Out-of-door Pencil Sketch.119 

“Old Sukey” . 120-121 

Mother’s Birthday Cards.122 





























TO THE GROWN UPS 


It has teen our endeavor, in this little book, to 
make drawing interesting and amusing to children 
of different ages; to give them some hints, although 
they must be slight, of perspective, composition, 
light and shade, and so forth, and to try to help 
them cultivate their observation and manual dex¬ 
terity. To make drawing not only a thing of desks 
and easels, but also of fresh air and “God’s-out-of- 
doors.” 

If this little book helps any child, even in a small 
way, to the “seeing-eye” and the clever, able hand, 
our pleasant labors will have their reward. 


14 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


WHAT BETTY CALLS “PERSPECTIVE” 

There are four of us, Sister Betty, who has been 
studying art for a long time and is quite grown 
up, Tom, Bobbie and me—and of course there’s 
Mother—she’s the best friend any children ever 
had, and she lets us do the nicest things. She lets 
us draw a good deal and Betty helps us and we 
make all sorts of jolly little pictures and cards and 
favors and draw flowers and animals and sketch 
out of doors, and we have such fun doing it, and 
that is what this book is about. 

If you want to do some of the things we do I’ll 
try to tell you how, and I am sure you will enjoy it 
as much as we do. 

In the first place, Betty says, you must see ex¬ 
actly how a thing looks, and how it is put together, 
before you try to draw it from any one position, 
then you must notice how it seems to look, from one 
position, because you know, if two things that are 
exactly alike are placed so that one is farther away 
than the other the one nearest seems to be larger 
than the other, and you must draw them that way 
or they won’t look right. 

If you look at a block carefully you will notice 
that if you are looking straight at one corner of the 
block the back corner seems to be shorter than the 
front one, and the top looks like a diamond instead 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 15 

of a square. The less you see of the top, the more 
pointed the diamond will be, and if you hold it ex¬ 
actly on a line with your eyes the top of the block 
will be a straight line. Betty drew us a little pic¬ 
ture to show us what she meant and here it is. 



You see the edges of each side seem to get closer 
to each other the farther they are away from you, 
and if the lines of the sides were continued far be¬ 
yond the block they would meet at the level of your 
eyes. This all sounds very hard, but it’s awfully 
interesting when you come to try to draw a box or a 
book or a house or anything that has parallel sides. 

An easy way to tell just how much a line seems 
to slant is to take a long pencil and hold it out at 
arm’s length, being careful not to tip the point or 
the top towards you, then shut one eye and slant 
the pencil so that it follows the line, then without 
moving the pencil open both eyes and you will see 
at once what the general direction of the line is. 
We live at the end of quite a long, straight street 






16 WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 

and we went to the window and tried slanting our 
pencils to follow the lines of the tops and bottoms 
of the houses, and it was very interesting to see that 
the lines would surely meet in the center of the 
street on a line with our eyes. 

Betty says this is called “perspective,” which I 
think is a very hard word, and she says that you can 
never make pictures of houses and things if you 
don’t know a little about it. Anyhow I think it is 
funny that things don’t look to our eyes exactly the 
way we know them to be with our minds. Take a 
cup, for instance. If you look straight down into 
the top you see that the upper edge is perfectly 
round, if you hold it on a level with your eyes it is a 
perfectly straight line, and if you hold it down a lit¬ 
tle the top edge is an oval, and the base is curved a 
little deeper than the top where that, too, would be 
a straight line if it were on a level with your eyes. 
And the funny part is that you must always draw it 
the way it looks and not the way your mind tells 
you it is, or it won’t look right when you have 
drawn it. 

It has been raining hard all day so we couldn’t 
go out and we have been drawing tables and chairs 
and books and all sorts of things, keeping in mind 
what Betty told us, and we really have had a beau¬ 
tiful time. 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


17 



IVY 


GRAPE 




18 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


A STUDY OF LEAVES 

We picked some leaves to-day and made draw¬ 
ings of them. 

We each took a leaf and drew it just as carefully 
as we could, putting in the larger veins to show how 
the leaf is made, but we had to leave out the smaller 
ones as there are so many of them that they only 
confused the drawing. 

It is wonderful to see how many kinds of leaves 
there are. We found two kinds of oak leaves that 
were quite a good deal alike in shape hut the edges 
were very different. Mother says that there are a 
great many kinds of oaks, but they all look some¬ 
thing like these. She showed us how much the 
maple leaf is like the grape and yet how much 
sharper the little “saw-teeth” are in the maple and 
how much more plainly the five parts are shown. 
So many leaves are divided into five parts or 
“lobes.” The ivy is on this plan, but you see the 
edges are nearly smooth. 

A great many leaves are oval. The holly leaf 
has a general oval shape, but the edges have very 
sharp saw-teeth that are almost like tiny thorns. 

Some leaves grow in groups of three, five or 
seven small leaves, and these are usually in pairs 
on the leaf stem with a single leaf on the point. 
We found a lot of these, but it got dark too early 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


19 


to give us time to draw them. Mother says it will 
help us a lot to notice these things as it will make 
our drawings true to Nature, and that Nature is 
the best guide we can have. I wrote a little poem 
about it, and here it is: 

The tiny leaf that floats along the wind 
A patient little model you will find 
So draw its portrait well— 

You can never, never tell 
What useful lesson it will leave behind. 


HOW THE CHERRY GROWS 

We had a lovely drive in the country yesterday 
and found a lot of ripe cherries, and oh, they were 
so good! While we were eating them Mother 
broke off a branch with the cherries and leaves and 
showed us how prettily they grow. They don’t 
just come out anywhere on the branch, but each lit¬ 
tle bunch of leaves and each little bunch of cherries 


20 




WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 




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WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


21 


grows out of a little short piece of the branch at 
the end of which is a little green thing that looks 
almost like a flower. Sometimes both the cherries 
and leaves come out of the same place. The leaves 
are almost oval in shape and have saw-tooth edges, 
but not very deep or sharp ones. 

Mother thought it would be nice to take some 
home to draw, so we did. She said that if we drew 
them carefully we’d be able to make some cunning 
little favors next winter for Washington’s Birth¬ 
day. 

When we got home we stuck a branch in a vase 
on the table, and sat just far enough away to see it 
well. Then we sketched in the main lines with 
pencil and went over them with pen and ink, put¬ 
ting in all the parts as nearly as possible like the 
real branch, leaves and cherries. We did it just in 
outline, as that is easier and looks better than it 
does when you try to shade them, unless you have 
been drawing a long time and know just how to 
do it. 

It was such fun that we could hardly tell whether 
we liked best to draw cherries or to eat them, and 
while we were talking about it Bobbie got tired of 
drawing and ate up the model before any of us 
could stop him. 


22 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



THE 

SURPRISE 
FIRE CRACKER 


FINISHED 



RED PAPER 


THIN PAPER 


STRING 




WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


23 


THE SURPRISE FIRE-CRACKER, AND HOW 
TO DRAW A PERFECT SQUARE 

Next week is Fourth of July, and we are going 
to have a party and we’re making the nicest little 
surprise favors you ever saw, one for each of the 
six guests. Mother thought of it, and wrote the 
rhymes for us, and I’m going to tell you how to do 
it, because it’s very easy and lots of fun. 

You must have some rather thin white paper, 
some thicker red paper, and some white cord. 

It is quite important to have the paper cut square 
and even, so the way we do it is to draw a straight 
line along the edge of a ruler close to one side of 
the white paper, then we take a book and lay it 
down so that one edge exactly touches the ruled 
line and draw a pencil along the other edge of the 
book. This makes a square corner or what Betty 
calls a right angle. We want a square of the white 
paper ten inches each way, so we measure ten 
inches each way at the beginning and ending of 
each line and rule from point to point on each side 
and that gives us a perfect square. Then we fold 
the white paper exactly in the middle, making it a 
double sheet like a long sheet of note paper. 

The red paper we cut in the same way, only we 
make it ten inches one way and five the other, and 
do not fold it. 


24 WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 

On one side of the white paper we print a rhyme, 
and as we want it to look very well we spaced out 
the lines before we drew the letters- First we 
measured two inches from the top at both sides and 
ruled a very light line between the points. This is 
the top of the capital letters for the first line. Be¬ 
low this we measured a quarter of an inch, this is 
for the top of the small letters. A quarter of an 
inch below this is another line which makes the bot¬ 
tom of all the letters. Then follows a space and 
the three guide lines over again as many times as 
there are lines in the rhyme. 

On these light pencil lines we draw the letters 
very carefully in ink, and when it is finished we rub 
out the pencil lines. This is really all the drawing 
there is to this surprise firecracker, but Mother says 
it is very good practice to measure accurately and 
make letters neatly. 

After the papers are ready we take a piece of the 
white cord about twelve inches long and lay it on 
one end of the white paper with about three inches 
showing on the right hand side, roll up a little of 
the paper, being careful to keep the edges straight, 
then fold over the left hand end of the string as 
shown in the picture. After that we put the rolled 
up end of the white paper on one end of the red 
paper and roll both papers up together, keeping 
the edges even, until we have a little cylinder that 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 25 

looks just like a real firecracker. Then we paste 
the end of the red paper down tightly and when the 
boys and girls pull the string the firecracker will 
burst open and they will see the rhymes. If we 
have time we are going to illustrate the rhymes 
with pictures of Uncle Sam, the American Eagle, 
and so forth, and you can too if you like. They 
look especially well at the top or bottom of the 
page. 

Here are the rhymes: 

When crackers bang, and flags float free 
And all the world is gay 
We honor those brave men who made 
Our Independence Day. 


The Fourth of July is the day that we all 
Must always remember, the great and the small, 
For many years, since, on that day, don’t you see, 
Our Fore-fathers made this the Land of the Free. 


Fling out abroad the Stars and Stripes 
To lead us on our way 
For this good land was freed for us 
On Independence Day. 




26 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


Do you know why the flags are unfurled to the sky; 
Why we all cheer and shout on the Fourth of July? 
It’s because, years ago, many brave men, and true 
Fought and died to preserve this fair country for 
you. 


Let all within this land rejoice 
With gladsome hearts, and pray 
That we may learn the lesson well 
Of Independence Day. 


When from old lands our Fathers came 
To make a country new 
They fought and bled to make it free 
And safe for me and you. 

So every year we celebrate 
And all our homes are gay 
With the good old flag they gave us 
On Independence Day. 




WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


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28 


[WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


HOW TO DRAW AND BUILD A LITTLE 
HOUSE 

Yesterday it rained steadily all day long, so we 
had to stay in the house except for a run in the rain 
in our mackintoshes and water-proof boots which 
made us feel jolly. The rest of the day would 
have been pretty tiresome if we hadn’t had any¬ 
thing to do, but we all like to draw so much that it 
doesn’t matter what the weather is. 

Mother suggested that we start a little village, 
and Betty drew the parts of a house for us and we 
each made one. Tom’s was beautiful, and mine 
was pretty good, and even little Bobbie’s looked 
very well, although some of his windows weren’t 
quite straight. 

On the following and preceding pages you will 
find the patterns we used, but you can draw your 
own style of house if you like, using the straight 
edges of a book to get the sides of the house and the 
doors and windows square, just as I told you to do 
in making the surprise firecracker. 

If you use this pattern you will need a hard, a 
medium and a soft lead pencil, and a pad of thin 
unruled foreign note paper that you can see 
through. You can get this at any stationers for 
ten cents, and you will find it very good to have to 
trace designs that are too difficult to draw. Betty 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


29 


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30 WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 

says that it is very good practice to trace lines care¬ 
fully, as it makes your hand steady and trains 
your eyes to see correctly, and is a help to you in 
your free-hand drawing. You put a piece of thin 
paper over the picture and draw the outline care¬ 
fully with the medium pencil. Then turn the 
paper over and rub over the space covered by the 
picture with the soft pencil. Put the drawing with 
the blackened side down on the paper on which you 
will make the finished drawing and, with the hard 
pencil, re-draw the outlines which will appear on 
the paper underneath. After that you can color it 
or go over it with ink, just as you please. 

To make this little house:— 

Draw the side and end on the thin paper, and re¬ 
draw each one twice on stiff paper. Color the 
house any way you like; we made ours red brick, 
which looks very pretty with white window frames. 
I made my doors white, but Tom made his pale 
green. Now cut out the walls on the outside lines, 
and on the end walls score the dotted lines so they 
will bend easily. By scoring, I mean a light cut 
made with a sharp knife, that does not go all the 
way through the paper. Bend back these flaps 
and paste them to the inside of the front and back 
walls. 

Draw the roof on another piece of stiff paper, and 
color it to go with the house; a grey or green roof 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


31 


would look well. Then cut out the roof, and cut 
out the four little slots. The chimneys on the front 
and back walls slip through these and hold the 
roof on. 

The little trees may stand on each side of the front 
door, and may be made on the same stiff paper. 
They should be colored before you cut them out. 
Green trees are pretty in red pots. 

Be sure to cut out the little slots in all four pots. 
These slip into each other in the form of a + and 
make the trees stand up. 

You can make any number of houses on this plan, 
putting doors and windows wherever you please, 
coloring them in different ways, and so have a sweet 
little village to play in. We are going to make 
some more buildings for the village on the next 
rainy day, we have had such a good time making 
these. 

We are going to call it the little “Village of Far¬ 
away” and I made a little rhyme about it for you. 
Here it is:— 

The little Village of Far-away 
Where boys and girls so gaily play, 

When on the nursery floor it stands 
Each house made by your tiny hands 
Then pride you’ll feel and glory too 
That such nice things are made by you! 


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WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 










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THE NASTURTIUM 

The nasturtiums are in full bloom now, and we 
have such beautiful ones. Mother let me pick a 
long stem to draw from, with flowers and buds and 
leaves on it so that I could remember just how they 
grow. She says it is very important in drawing a 
plant to notice just how the leaves and flowers grow 
out of the main stems. Sometimes they grow 
in pairs and often a little space apart and usually 
on opposite sides of the main stem. Very often the 
flower and one or more leaves come out of the same 
place on the stem. Sometimes the flower comes di¬ 
rectly out of the flower stem, but usually it has a 
little green thing that the colored flower comes out 
of, and they are quite different in different flowers. 
This is called the calyx, and the colored parts of 
the flower are called petals if they are separate from 
each other, and all the petals together are called the 
corolla. You will learn these names if you study 
botany. They are rather hard words, but botany 
is so interesting you don’t mind. 

You will notice that the calyx on the nasturtium 
has a long tube. Mother told us that this is where 
the honey is that the bees love so much, and if you 
break one off and put it in your mouth you will find 
that this is true. The nasturtium has flat, almost 
round leaves, and they make lovely plates for a 
doll’s garden party. 


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WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 











WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


35 


OUR FIRST OUT-OF-DOORS SKETCHING 

Last week we went out to Grandmother’s and we 
had the loveliest time. We had picnics almost 
every day, and Betty showed us a little about out- 
of-door sketching. 

She says that in making a sketch the first thing 
to think of is “composition.” This means putting 
the most interesting part of the picture, such as a 
house or tree, in the place where it will look best, 
and having the lines made by roads, fences, fields 
and so forth flow into and across each other so that 
when the picture is finished it will look well. 

She took a top of one of the sandwich boxes and 
cut a hole out of it about the size and shape of our 
sketching pads. This makes a sort of “finder” like 
that on a camera, and by holding it at different dis¬ 
tances from our eyes and between us and the scene 
we were going to sketch we could see just what part 
of the scene would come into our pictures, and 
where the most interesting thing would look best. 

She drew a little picture of me when I was using 
the “finder” so you can see how I look. 


36 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


SKETCHING WITH BRUSH AND INDIA INK 

I made the sketch on the following page with a 
medium-sized brush and India ink. Betty sug¬ 
gested putting a line around the top of the sketch 
as the whole of the big tree didn’t come inside the 
finder, and leaving the line off the lower part to 
give an idea of space. You see how the irregular 
line at the top of the field and the rough brush 
marks at the bottom give the idea of the whole field 
being covered with grass. 


"WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


37 












38 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


HOW TO DRAW BIRDS 

The next day we made some studies of birds. 
They are pretty difficult to draw as they won’t stay 
still so that we must study them well before we try 
to draw them. 

The first thing to do is to get the general line of 
the body and wings with a little spot for the placing 
of the head. After that we learned how to fill 
them out like real birds. I did the little ones with 
a pen and ink and Tom made the larger ones on the 
next page with a brush, which is good for quick 
work. The birds were flying high in the sky, so he 
put in some cloud lines with a pen. Betty liked 
this because she said it was quite decorative. 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


39 









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WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 




WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


41 


PENCIL SKETCHING 

On the following page is a pencil sketch of 
Grandmother’s house that Tom made. Betty says 
it is very good as all the lines on the front of the 
house would meet if you carried them out far 
enough, the way I told you about the block on page 
15. I am going to try pencil sketching some day, 
as it seems to be such fun. All you need is a pad 
of fairly rough paper, a soft pencil and a soft rub¬ 
ber. Tom has a 2 B and a 3 B Hardtmuth Koh-i- 
noor pencil and a Windsor and Newton soft rubber 
square and they seem to work very well. The 3 B 
works best on smooth paper and the 2 B on rougher 
paper. 

It doesn’t take many lines to make a tree or bush 
look real, and if you are careful to notice how the 
light falls so that the shadows are on the same side 
of all the things in the picture it makes it look as if 
the sun were shining. I hope it will be clear to¬ 
morrow so that I can try it. 


42 


WHEN" MOTHER LETS US DRAW 








WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


43 


A LITTLE STORE AND HOW TO DRAW 
AND BUILD IT 

It isn’t clear at all to-day. Instead it is raining 
“cats and dogs” so we are making stores for the lit¬ 
tle “Village of Faraway”. Mine is a dry-goods 
store, Tom’s is a meat market and Bobbie’s is a 
grocery store. 

We are making them in just the same way as we 
did the house on page 28, only we are drawing pic¬ 
tures in the windows of the things they would have 
in the different kinds of stores, and printing in the 
right kind of sign over the doors. 









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WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



























































































































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45 





46 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


HOW TOM MADE A FUNNY BEAR 

See what a funny little Bear Tom drew! Would 
you like to make one? Well, I’ll tell you just how 
to do it. You only need a piece of stiff, brown, 
black or white paper, and three ordinary pins. 

Lay a piece of thin paper over the picture and 
draw the body, following the dotted lines that cross 
the head and legs. After you have blackened the 
back of the thin paper, trace the body on the stiff 
paper, not forgetting to put in the little circles that 
show where the head and legs are joined to the 
body. 

Draw the head in the same way, on a separate 
piece of stiff paper and make two forelegs and two 
hind legs like the complete right legs shown in the 
picture. Now, cut them all out, and place the head 
on the body, with the little circle on the head ex¬ 
actly over the one of the body. Stick a pin through 
the two circles and bend the pin down tightly on the 
back. Now stick a pin through the two circles 
shown on the body where the two pairs of legs are 
attached, and take out the pin. Place the forelegs, 
one under and the other on top of the body, so that 
the three little circles are exactly underneath each 
other. Stick a pin through the three circles and 
bend down tightly on the back. Put on the hind 
legs in the same way. 

I am sure you will just love him when he is done. 


.WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


47 , 





48 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


A PICNIC—WITH BLACKBERRIES 

We had another beautiful picnic at Grand¬ 
mother’s farm to-day. It is getting a little bit cool 
so we made a fire and roasted com in it, and cooked 
some chops by sticking them on long sharp green 
twigs, and broiling them over the coals. 

My, but they tasted good! 

We found a lot of blackberries in the pasture and 
had them for dessert. 

Of course we took our drawing things along, and 
Tom made a very pretty drawing of a blackberry 
branch. I think the way he did the blackberries is 
very nice. They look so black and shiny, just like 
the real ones. You see he took pains to see just 
how the light struck them, and as they shine so, 
they show a light spot on the light side of each little 
globe in the berry, and also a little light on the dark 
side, which is reflected from the shiny little globe 
next to it. You will notice the same thing on any 
polished surface. There will be a little light spot 
where the light strikes it direct, and a light on the 
dark side will be reflected from some lighter object, 
if there is one on that side. 

Mother showed us how well protected the black¬ 
berry bush is with thorns. She says it is because 
they usually grow in places where animals are feed¬ 
ing, and if they didn’t have them the animals would 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


49 


eat up the young plants, and there would not be any 
more blackberries. The berry stems have very few 
thorns, as it is generally good for a plant to have its 
berries eaten by the birds, as it helps to scatter the 
seeds. 

So when you draw a blackberry, be sure to put 
the thorns where they belong, and notice how 
sharply they curve back on the stem so as to do as 
much damage as possible to any naughty animal 
that tries to eat up the plants. 


MY FIRST PENCIL SKETCH 

While Tom was drawing his blackberries I made 
my first pencil sketch. I chose Farmer Brown’s 
little house with the two big trees by the road. 
Betty says it is pretty good, but not as good as some 
of Tom’s, because it is a little too filled up and not 
simple enough. I don’t mind, because Tom is a 
good deal older than I am, and I’m going to do bet¬ 
ter next time. 


50 


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WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


51 


BOBBY MAKES A JACK 0’LANTERN 

We have been very busy for the last few days 
getting ready for a Hallowe’en party. Even little 
Bobbie has been helping. He has made a lot of 
cunning little pumpkin favors for the table, by 
drawing the pumpkin you see on the following page 
on a piece of stiff bright orange paper, cutting out 
the eyes, nose and mouth, and folding the pumpkin 
on the dotted lines so that it will stand up. We 
will print the guests’ names on the backs so they can 
be used for place cards at the table. 

Mother suggested that we could make penwipers 
of them by cutting two pieces of chamois skin or 
velvet the shape of the pumpkin and tying them at 
the top with green ribbon so that our guests may 
keep them to remember our party. We will do it if 
we have time. 


52 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 






HALLOWE’EN CANDLE SHADE, AND HOW 
TO MAKE THEM 


We are also drawing and making some candle 
shades for the Hallowe’en party. Betty designed 
them for us, and we are making a number of them. 
We are drawing them first on the thin paper, and 
re-drawing them on orange paper after blackening 
the back of the thin paper, as I told you to do in the 
case of the little house on page 30. 

Each shade takes a piece of orange colored paper 
about twelve inches square. The four sides and top 
are all cut in one piece like the small diagram, using 
the pattern on the following page. 



53 


















54 







WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


55 



We drew the Witch on all four sides of one kind 
of candle shade, and the Owl on the four sides of the 
other kind, and painted them in solid black. We 
made the Owl’s eyes look awfully funny and clear 
by carefully painting them in with a little salad oil 
which lets the light shine through them. 



56 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



After we get them all drawn we will cut them 
out on the outside lines and cut out the circle at the 
top, and on the dotted lines we will score them,— 
that is, we will make a very light cut that does not 
go through the paper, so that they will bend easily. 
We find the best way to do this is to lay a brass 
edged school ruler on the line and draw a knife 
lightly along the edge. This makes them bend in 






WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


57 


a perfectly straight line. Then we will bend the 
shade on all the dotted lines, and put a little photog¬ 
rapher’s paste, or LePage’s glue on each of the lit¬ 
tle flaps which are on the left of each side of the 
shade. We will stick the flap down underneath 
the side nearest it, and the candle shade will be fin¬ 
ished and will look like this: 





58 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


TOM’S LITTLE DOGGIE 

Tom has been working all the morning making 
a funny little puppy. He made him out of stiff 
white paper, and put brown spots on him, and made 
his little tongue red. His head and legs and ears 
move and you can put him in all sorts of funny 
positions. 

You draw and cut out the body following the 
outline and dotted line where it crosses the head, 
ear and legs. Mark on it the little circles to show 
where the head and legs are attached. Draw and 
cut out the head following the dotted line where it 
crosses the ear, and mark the two little circles show¬ 
ing where the ear is fastened to the head, and where 
the head is fastened to the body. Make two ears 
and two forelegs, and two hind legs like the com¬ 
plete left ear and legs shown in the drawing, mark¬ 
ing the circles as shown. 

Place the ears on the head so that the little circle 
on the head is directly under the one on the left ear, 
and above the one on the right. Stick a pin 
through the circles, and bend the pin down on the 
back. 

Place the head on the body so that the circle on 
the body is exactly under the one on the head. 
Stick a pin through and bend it down on the back. 

Put on the legs in just the same way as you put 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


59 



them on the Bear—on page 45. Then you will 
have a little doggie exactly like Tom’s, that can* 
move his head, ears and legs, and you can make him 
lie down, and beg, and do all sorts of amusing 
things. 



60 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


61 


HOW I DREW A BUNCH OF GRAPES 

Grandmother has a beautiful grapevine growing 
behind her house, and she lets us eat all the grapes 
we want. 

They grow so beautifully that I thought I would 
draw a bunch of grapes, and a piece of the vine and 
some leaves. I didn’t cut it as I found that the 
leaves wilt right away, even if you put them in water 
at once; so I took my drawing things and sat on the 
seat in the grape arbor and drew the vine just as it 
grew. I thought it very interesting to see how 
sometimes the little tendrils reach up and wind 
themselves around a stem to help hold up the heavy 
grapes. Betty showed me how to make the grapes 
look round even in outline, by making the line a lit¬ 
tle thicker on the shadow side of the grape. You 
will notice where the leaf stem crosses the main stem 
in the lower part of my drawing it throws a little 
shadow on the big stem. By making this shadow 
curve a little it makes the stem look round, as a 
shadow cast on a curved surface always curves too. 
This is a good thing to remember. 


62 


WHEX MOTHER LETS US DRAW 







WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


63 


THE CHILDREN’S THANKSGIVING 
TURKEYS 

We are going out to Grandmother’s for Thanks¬ 
giving day, and Mother is letting us draw some tur¬ 
keys for place cards to surprise Grandmother at 
dinner. I think she will be awfully pleased. 
There will be ten people at the table, and we have 
to make one apiece, so you can see that we are very 
busy. 

Would you like to make some for your Thanks¬ 
giving dinner? All right, I’ll tell you how. 

Put a piece of thin paper over the turkey and 
draw the turkey and the outline of the card care¬ 
fully. Then blacken the back of the paper with a 
soft pencil, and lay the thin paper with the black¬ 
ened side down on a piece of stiff white paper and 
go over the lines with a hard pencil. Take a pen 
and India ink and draw the outlines and the spots 
on the stiff paper, and the turkey is ready to color. 

Make his little wattles red 

And the rest in shades of brown 
And you’ll have the finest turkey 
That ever came to town! 

N ow cut out the square card and cut around the 
tail with a sharp knife (if you lay the paper on 


X 


64 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


glass you can make a good clean cut). Lay a ruler 
along the dotted line and draw a knife lightly along 
the edge of the ruler, being careful not to cut all 
the way through the paper. Bend on the dotted 
line so that the turkey will stand up above the top 
of the card. You can put a guest’s name on each 
card so they will know where to sit at the table. 



WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


65 






















66 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


HOW WE MADE A WINDMILL 

We have made the dearest little windmill for the 
little Village of Faraway. I am sure you would 
love it, so I am going to tell you how to make it. 
Draw each of the sides of the windmill twice, on a 
piece of stiff paper, and mark the little circle over 
the window, where the sails go on, on one side only. 
Then draw the piece with the curved and pointed 
ends once and the roof and sails once. 

Color the whole windmill grey and leave the sails 
white. 

Now cut all the parts out, including the slots on 
the two small pieces, and score them on the dotted 
lines, scoring the piece with the pointed ends so 
that the ends will bend up and the little tongues at 
the sides will bend down. To do this, the light cut 
for the tongues should be on the other side of the 
paper. 

Fold the sides on the dotted lines, and stick the 
two little flaps down inside the connecting wall. 

Fold the pointed ends of the small piece up and 
the little tongues down, and slip the two tongues 
on the sides of the windmill through the slots on this 
piece. Bend the roof on the dotted lines and hook 
one slot over the bent-down tongue, carrying the 
roof over the pointed parts which are bent up, and 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 67 

hook it on the bent-down tongue on the other side. 
This makes a curved roof. 

Stick a pin through the little circle in the center 
of the sails, and through the one over the window on 
the side of the windmill, and bend it down inside, 
leaving enough space to allow the sails to turn 
freely. If you curve the ends of the sails a little, 
and blow on them, they will turn of themselves just 
as a real windmill does. 


TOM’S CROW 

Yesterday Tom saw a crow perched on a bare 
branch of a tree, and it stayed there so long that he 
had time to make a sketch of it. He started with 
the simple outline shown on the following page, 
which is the best way to do, because you can get an 
idea of the shape quickly in case the bird moves. 


68 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



Tom filled in the feathers with a brush, leaving a 
few white lines to show where the wing comes, a 
white line to give the shape of the eye and finished 
up the beak and legs. Then he put in the branch 
for the crow to perch on and some cloud lines to 
show that he was way up in the air. Tom is quite 
crazy about clouds because Betty said that he did 
them so well. 




WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


69 



* 


INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT APPLES 


How do you like this branch of apples? 

I did it while it was still on the tree. Did you 
know that that little green thing on the top of the 
apple is the little green calyx that grew at the back 
of the apple blossom? Mother says it is, and next 
spring we are going to watch the blossoms fall and 
the apple begin to form back of the calyx. Mother 
cut an apple in two right across the little seeds to 
show us how much the form of the little shells that 
hold the seeds is like an apple blossom. We have 
learned a lot about forms since we started to draw, 
and it’s all so very interesting. I do love to draw 
things that you can eat when you’ve finished. This 
seems to be a way of c ‘eating your cake and keeping 
it too,” for you still have the drawing after you have 
eaten the apple. 

OUR PUPPIES CLIMB THE STAIRS 

We have two of the cunningest puppies you ever 
saw, and Tom has been making sketches of them 
whenever they would stay still enough, which was 
not often you may be sure. 

He made a lot of little rough drawings with a 
brush, and at last he made one of them when they 
were climbing up the stairs, that Betty says she 
thinks you would like. The first is the rough study 
made with a brush and the second is a more careful 
pen and ink drawing. 


70 


.WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


71 






72 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


I think he has gotten the effect of their soft furry 
little bodies very well, and the action is good. See 
how they are just hurrying up the stairs. 





WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW] 


73 



j 







74 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


THE HOLLY FOR CHRISTMAS 

Christmas is nearly here and Tom has brought 
in a lot of holly branches to decorate the house. 

Mother said we had better make some studies of 
holly, as we would want to make some Christmas 
cards to send to all our aunts and uncles and cousins, 
and there is nothing prettier for Christmas than 
holly with its bright leaves and scarlet berries. 

I have just made a drawing and I think I know 
their form and how they grow well enough to design 
some Christmas cards. 

It is necessary to make the leaves look very crisp, 
and the little thorns on the edges of the leaves must 
look sharp and the berries must grow out of the 
main stem on very short stems, and usually just at 
the base of the leaves. 


HOW TO MAKE A KITTY PEN-WIPER 

I have a dear little Auntie who adores cats, so I 
have made her a little Kitty pen-wiper for Christ¬ 
mas. Her favorite cat is a big grey cat so I colored 
the kitty a nice grey with a pink nose and tongue, 
and yellow-green eyes, and she looks too cunning 
for words. 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


75 




76 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



Then I cut out around the outside edge of the 
head and ruff, and cut two pieces of chamois ex¬ 
actly the same shape, punched holes through the 
paper and both pieces of chamois just under the 
kitty’s chin and tied them together with a bright 
red ribbon. 

If you want to make one just like this you can 
draw it on a piece of thin paper first, and re-draw it 
on stiff white paper after you have blackened the 
back of the thin paper. 

You can make the cat a tortoise-shell, grey or 
white cat—whichever one is your favorite. 



WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


77 


USING HOLLY FOR A BOOK MARK 

Tom has drawn this little holly book mark to 
send to Uncle Tom. He colored the leaves green 
and left some white lights on them to make them 
look shiny. The berries of course are bright red. 

The card is cut out, and the leaves and berries 
also so that when it is put in a book to mark the 
place the two leaves at the sides will hook over the 
page and hold the card in place. 






78 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


A “SNOW-SCAPE” 

It has been too cold for out-of-door sketching, 
but here is a jolly little drawing that Tom made 
from one of the windows in Grandmother’s house. 
It is done with a brush after the main lines were 
sketched in in pencil. See how the smooth flowing 
lines of the fields give the effect of deep snow, and 
how the heavy black line around the picture and the 
dark pine trees make everything else look dazzlingly 
white. 

A little drawing like this makes a very pretty 
Christmas card, and Mother says one taken from 
your own window would be especially valued by 
anyone who knew and loved you. 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


79 





80 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


TWO CHRISTMAS CARDS 

Here are some little Christmas cards that we have 
made, and I think you may like to make some too. 

Draw the tree and the two pots on a piece of stiff 
paper. Color the tree green and the candles red, 
and the candle flames yellow. 

The pots may be red or yellow or green, just as 
you wish, but I think red would look most like 
Christmas. 

Cut out around the outside edges, being careful 
to cut the little slots at the top and bottom of the 
pots neatly. 

Slip the slots into each other in the form of a + 
so that the trees will stand up. It looks better if 
you color the second pot on both sides. 

Draw the second card on a piece of white or light 
green paper. Color the holly as prettily as you 
know how, making the leaves green and the berries 
red. Write or print a pretty Christmas wish and 
send it to Grandmother or Auntie, or any of your 
friends, and I am sure they will like it much better 
than any card you can buy. 


[WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW, 


81 














82 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 




WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


83 


THE SANTA CLAUS I MADE FOE 
BOBBIE’S STOCKING 


I just love this little Santa Claus, that Betty de¬ 
signed for me, and I am going to draw it for Bob¬ 
bie’s stocking. He doesn’t know about it because 
I keep the door locked all the while I am working 
on it, and put all the scraps away when I am 
through. He is crazy to know what I am doing, 
and comes to the door every few minutes to know if 
I am not ’most through. 

I drew the Santa Claus on thin paper, and trans¬ 
ferred him on to a piece of stiff white paper, and 
made his cap, coat, trousers and cheeks red, leaving 
the fur and his beard white. His pack is a nice 
dark green and his belt has a yellow buckle to look 
like gold. 

Then I drew the chimney on two pieces of paper 




























84 WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 

and colored the bricks red. Then I cut Santa 
Claus out, being careful to make the little slots in 
the edge of his coat so that he would hook on to the 
chimney and stand up straight. The chimney 
must be scored on the dotted lines, and bent on 
these lines, and the little flaps pasted down inside. 

Then Santa Claus goes inside the chimney, and 
the slots hold him in place. Don’t you think he 
is very nice? 

A SNOW-SCAPE FOR NEW YEAR’S 

Well, Christmas is over at last and what a won¬ 
derful day it was! Everybody loved the presents 
we children made for them, and Aunt Jean, who is 
an artist, is awfully pleased with the progress we 
have made in drawing. She says the great thing 
is to keep it up, so although we have hardly had 
time to play with all our presents, I have just made 
a sketch from the window, and I think I can use it 
for a New Year’s card. 

The snow is very, very deep, and all the hills are 
white, and the pine trees are loaded with it. 

Don’t you think that leaving off the heavy black 
line at the bottom and part of the left side of the 
picture makes you feel how deep the snow is? 

It also has the advantage of leaving a clear space 
for a New Year’s wish, and I am going to print 
there— 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


85 



May every joy 
of the bright New Year 
Be yours, 
and make you happy, dear. 



86 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 




« 



WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


87 


HOW A LITTLE LADY MAY BE A 
CALENDAR 

We have made such a darling little lady to use 
for a calendar for the New Year, and I am sure 
you would like to make one too. If you would you 
must draw her carefully on a piece of stiff paper, 
or draw her first on thin paper, blacken the back 
and re-draw her on the stiff paper. 

Color her face with a little red, and make her 
hair brown or yellow. 

A pink waist and overskirt would be pretty, with 
a light green skirt and hat to match. 

Cut out around the outside edge of the figure. 

From the stationer’s get a calendar pad that will 
fit on the skirt. Punch holes through the top of 
the calendar pad, and through the skirt and tie the 
calendar on with a pink or green ribbon. 

Take a small brass curtain ring and run through 
it a piece of court plaster about a quarter of an inch 
wide, and two inches long. Fold it over and stick 
down about one-half inch of the court plaster, and 
stick the remaining inch to the back of the lady’s 
head. This will serve to hang the calendar by. 


88 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


BOBBIE’S VALENTINE 

Bobbie has a tiny little sweetheart and he wanted 
very much to make her a Valentine with his own 
cunning little hands, as Valentine’s day is not far 
off now. 

We all tried to think of something he could do 
himself, as he is pretty little. At last we hit on a 
Valentine pen-wiper, a pattern for which you will 
find on the opposite page. 

If you make this you will need a piece of red 
paper about five and a half inches high, and about 
three and a half inches wide; two pieces of chamois 
or velvet the same size, and some ribbon to tie it 
with. 

The easiest way to make this is to draw one of the 
hearts on one end of the red paper, then fold the 
paper between the small circles and cut out the two 
sides at one time. Use this for a pattern for cut¬ 
ting out the inside leaves of the pen-wiper. Punch 
holes through all the leaves at points shown by the 
small circles and tie with ribbons, making two pretty 
little bows. 

Bob printed on the front of the heart:— 

Two little hearts together tied, 

Can’t come apart you see. 

And when you write a letter, 

I hope ’twill be to me! 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


89 



90 


.WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



THE VALENTINES TOM AND I MADE 

Tom and I each made one of these Valentines, 
as they may he sent to a little girl by a boy, or to a 
boy by a little girl. 

We drew it carefully on a piece of stiff white 








WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


91 


paper, and colored the heart red, and the children 
pretty light colors. The little girl has a light green 
dress with the bow in her hair to match, and a white 
ruffle around her neck and sleeves. We did not 
use pink in the clothes, because pink and red do 
not look very well together, and the heart really 
has to be red. 

We put a light flesh color on the faces and hands, 
and on the little girl’s legs above her socks; we made 
her hair light brown and the little boy’s a darker 
brown. 

The panel at the bottom is green to look like 
grass. 

We cut out around the outside edge of the heart, 
and the children and the panel at the bottom, but 
did not try to cut out the spaces between the chil¬ 
dren’s legs and the heart, and top of the panel, as 
this would be quite difficult to do. We printed on 
the heart:— 

This great big heart is just a part 
Of all the love I send you, 

If you’ll be mine, my Valentine, 

I never will offend you. 

Then we folded the Valentine together on the 
dotted line so that it will stand up like a tiny screen. 


92 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 






WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


93 


HOW TOM MADE A ST. PATRICK’S PIGGY 

St. Patrick’s day is almost here, and Tom has 
made this little piggie out of bright emerald green 
paper for a present for a dear little Irish friend. 
The head, body and tail are in one piece. They are 
drawn on paper following the outlines that cross 
the legs, and then they must be cut out. 

The circles showing the points of fastening for 
the legs must be marked, and two forelegs and two 
hind legs like the complete right legs shown in the 
picture, must be made. The legs are put on in the 
way I told you about on page 46. 

The legs are movable and it gives him the funniest 
expression to change their position. 


94 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


1 



AN EASTER CANDLE SHADE, AND HOW! 

WE MADE IT 

We have made some lovely little candle shades 
as a surprise for Mother on Easter. They are 
made just like the Hallowe’en shades on page 53, 
only instead of painting them, we are drawing but¬ 
terflies on them like you see in the picture, and cut¬ 
ting the butterflies out of the stiff white paper with 
a sharp knife, making a clean cut by laying the 




WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW; 


95 



paper on a piece of glass. If your Mother does 
not like you to use a knife, you can cut them out 
with a small pair of nail scissors. It really is not 
any harder than cutting paper dolls. 

Now this is what makes them so pretty. We 
draw just the outline of the four sides on pieces of 
pale yellow paper which is rather thin, and line each 
side of the white paper shade neatly by putting a 
little paste all around the edges of the panels and 
when this is done we put it under a heavy book un-1 




96 


WHEST MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



til it is quite dry. This makes all the butterflies 
yellow. Then we made them up exactly as we did 
the Hallowe’en shades, and they really are lovely. 

We made them yellow because yellow always 
makes a pretty light, and also because the dining 
room is in shades of yellow and dull blue, and no 
other color would look as well in that room. If you 
had a green or brown dining room you could use a 
yellow or rose color, either would look well, but 
don’t try to have green or blue candle shades, be- 





cause the light they give will make everyone look 
sort of ill, and we don’t want that to happen. 

I hope you will make some of these shades. I 
am sure your Mother would love them and they are 
so especially pretty for an Easter present because 
Mother has told us that the butterfly is a symbol of 
the Resurrection. 

Can you guess why? It is because the poor lit¬ 
tle worm that spins the cocoon seems to die, and yet 
is reborn in the form of a Butterfly. 





98 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 







WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


99 


TOM’S BUNNIES 

Tom has a lot of dear 
little rabbits, and he has 
been drawing them in all 
sorts of different posi¬ 
tions and has also made 
some darling little Bun¬ 
ny Easter cards. 

The first one has a 
bunny’s head coming out 
of an Easter egg. The 
egg is a lovely blue, and 
the bunny is white with 
pink ears. 

The card is made 
double and folded where 
you see the dotted lines, 
and on the outside it 
says: 

This nice little bunny 
just popped out his 
head 

“A bright happy Eas¬ 
ter, I wish you,” he 
said. 



100 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


MORE EASTER BUNNIES 

The card at the top of the page Tom drew on 
rather stiff white paper. He colored the lower 
part a light green to look like grass. Then he cut 
out the card, and with a sharp knife cut through 
the paper on the outline of the rabbit and bent the 
card, after scoring the dotted line, so it would stand 
up like a little tent. When Tom mails it he will 
flatten it out again, and put it in an envelope. 

The card on the lower left side he drew on stiff 
white paper, and did not color it. He printed on 
the card: 

You dear little Bunny, you look very funny, 

I think that I’ll send you to say, 

“I’m little and furry, I haven’t a worry. 

And I wish you a glad Easter Day!” 

The Bunny in the lower right hand comer is com¬ 
ing out of a bright red eggshell and has the same 
little rhyme printed on the eggshell, as he is going 
to another friend, and Tom says it’s terribly hard 
to make poetry. 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


101 


I 












102 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 




WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


103 


HOW I DREW AN EASTER LILY 

I don’t make animals as well as Tom does, so I 
have been making some studies of Easter Lilies for 
my Easter cards. 

Betty told me that if I made the outline of the 
lilies a fine line, and the outlines of the leaves a 
heavier line it would make the lilies look white and 
the leaves look as if they were darker, and I think 
it does; don’t you? 


MY LILY BOOK MARK 

On the following page is one of my Easter cards, 
and it can be used as a book mark, because the lily 
is cut out just as you would a paper doll and will 
hook on the top of a page in a book, and keep the 
place. It looks very pretty with the little velvety 
things in the center colored orange, and the leaves 
and stems green. I printed on the card: 

I’ll keep your place in any book, 

Where I am, is the place to look. 

and at the bottom I printed: 

Wishing you a happy Easter, from 
and signed my name. 


104 


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WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


105 


HOW WE MADE A LITTLE CHURCH 

Easter was a beautiful day and we all went to 
church together. The church looked lovely with 
all the Easter flowers, and I think that was what 
suggested our making a church for the little Village 
of Faraway. 

If you want to make one for your village, draw 
the side and end twice, and the steeple and roof once 
each. 

The church may be colored like red brick or stone. 

Cut out all the parts carefully on the ink outlines, 
cut slots in the roof, and lightly score the dotted 
lines so that they will bend easily and evenly. 
Bend back the flaps on the end walls and paste 
them to the side walls. Slip the windows in the 
center of the sides through the slots in the middle 
of the sides of the roof. Now bend back the flaps 
on the roof of the steeple and the flaps on the wall 
of the steeple. Bend the walls on the dotted lines 
to form a square. Bend the roofs over at the 
dotted lines so that the points come together. Stick 
the flap on the wall to the inside of the connecting 
wall and stick the steeple roof flaps inside each con¬ 
necting part of the roof. The two side walls of the 
steeple which project below the other walls are to 
slip down through the small slits in the end of the 
roof, and will hold the steeple in place. 


106 


.when; mother lets us draw 





































































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107 















































108 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


OUR LITTLE DUTCH BOY 

While Tom and Bobbie were making the church 
I made this little Dutch boy by drawing the head 
and body on a piece of stiff white paper following 
the outline and the dotted lines across the top and 
bottom of the sleeve, and across the leg, and mark¬ 
ing little circles that show where the legs and arms 
are attached. I drew two arms and two legs like 
the complete left arm and leg shown in the picture. 

Before I cut them out I colored all the parts, 
making the hands and face flesh color, with a little 
red on the cheeks, and the hair I made yellow, the 
handkerchief around his neck orange, his coat and 
sleeves green, his belt (following the dotted lines 
shown across the sleeve) black, his trousers brown, 
his stockings grey, and his wooden shoes yellow. 

Then I cut out all the parts and fastened the 
arms and legs to the body with pins run through the 
little circles, and bent them down on the back so 
that we can move his little arms and legs. 

He looks very funny playing with the doggie and 
bear. 


(WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


109 





110 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


WHAT PANSIES ARE FOR 

The Pansies are just blossoming, and I am so 
glad because it makes it seem as if Spring were 
really here. We planted the seeds in the fall so 
that we have pansies earlier than anyone else. 

I have drawn several in different positions be¬ 
cause I know I shall be glad to have them to use for 
Birthday cards. You know Shakespeare says 
“Pansies are for thoughts,” so they are very nice to 
use when you want to show that you are thinking 
of someone. 

They are such dear little flowers with their wise 
little faces. They always seem to be smiling at me. 

Mother let me pull up a whole plant so that I 
could draw it with a flower, a bud, seed-pod, leaves 
and root complete. Mother says this is always a 
good thing to do, as you never know just how much 
of the plant you may want to use, and if you know 
how to draw every part you will never have any 
trouble in making a pretty design. 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


111 









112 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 










WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


113 


A FAIRY BIRTHDAY CARD FOR 
GRANDMOTHER 

To-morrow is Grandmother’s birthday, so I have 
made her a birthday card with a Fairy scattering 
forget-me-nots. 

Don’t you think that is a pretty idea? 

Of course I could not draw the Fairy very well, 
so Betty drew it for me, and I drew it on thin paper 
and transferred it to a white card by blackening the 
back of the thin paper and going over the lines with 
a hard pencil. I colored the flowers blue and the 
leaves and stems light green. The Fairy’s face 
and hands are a light pink or flesh color, and her 
clothes and wings are a light delicate green, so that 
she looks as if she were floating in air. 

On the back of the card I printed:— 

This little Fairy strews your path 
With sweet forget-me-not, 

For on your natal day be sure 
By me you’re not forgot. 


114 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



















WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


115 


HOW THE DANDELION GROWS 

The back lawn is just covered with dandelions, 
and they look so bright and pretty! It seems a 
shame for them to kill the grass. 

Tom says they are his favorite flowers and I have 
made a drawing of a plant so that I could make 
something pretty for Tom’s room, using them as a 
decoration. 

I think they would be very pretty embroidered. 

I am getting quite a collection of flower draw¬ 
ings, and Betty has given me one of her portfolios 
to keep them in. She says I will be glad to have 
them as long as I live, and that if I do them well 
they will be splendid to have to refer to when I grow 
up and get to be a real designer, which is the thing 
I’d like best to be of anything in the world. 

A PICNIC BY GRANDMOTHER’S BROOK 

Yesterday we had the first picnic of the summer 
down by a brook on Grandmother’s farm. 

There are a lot of white birches by the brook, and 
a thin belt of dark woods on the other side. 

I made a quick brush sketch of it, which Mother 
likes very much. She says the trees in front look 
very nice and sunny, because I did not put too many 
lines in the foliage, and that it is all good, and sim¬ 
ple and strong. 


116 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 

















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117 






118 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


THE BEAUTIFUL FLEUR-DE-LYS 

Grandmother has some beautiful fleur-de-lys, 
and she let me have one to draw. It was white, 
so I made the flower with fine lines, and the leaves 
and stems with heavier lines to suggest the differ¬ 
ence in color. 

The petals are so delicate and so much like crepe 
that the outline is very irregular and I tried very 
hard to make the flower look the way it really does. 
I put in the little furry places on the lower petals 
with short lines almost like dots, and I think it 
looks quite a good deal like fur. 

It is hard to give the idea of different surfaces 
in outline, but Betty thinks it is fine to be able to, 
as it makes the drawing look true to nature, and 
also makes it interesting. 


TOM SKETCHES AGAIN 

There is a little house almost hidden in the bushes 
down back of the pasture and Tom made a pencil 
drawing of it yesterday. 

Mother says he has gotten the effect of light very 
well, because the shadows all fall on the same side, 
and that the composition is pleasing. 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


119 










120 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 



SUKEY 

Here is a rough sketch with a brush and a pen 
and ink drawing that Tom made of dear old 
“Sukey” out in the pasture. She is a good old 
thing, and gives lots of milk, but Tom likes her best 
because she stands so still. 




[WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


121 



Tom says he would like to he an animal painter 
if all the animals and birds wouldn’t move about so. 

I think he will be anyway, because he does them 
quite well already in spite of their never standing 
still, and as he gets to drawing more and more 
quickly the easier it will be for him. 



122 


WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 












WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW 


123 


WE ALL MAKE CARDS FOR MOTHER’S 
BIRTHDAY 

Next week is Mother’s birthday, and we have 
each drawn her a birthday card. The one at the 
top is mine, and looks very pretty now that it is 
finished. I drew the little girl on a stiff white card 
and colored her prettily, then cut out the part of 
the figure above the dotted lines, and bent the card 
so that it would stand up like a little tent, with the 
little girl’s head and shoulders and the bouquet 
standing up above the top of the bent card. 

The little Boy is Tom’s card and is done in just 
the same way as mine. 

Bobbie did the rose because Mother’s birthday 
comes in June. It is a pink rose and has a green 
stem and leaves, and Bob has printed on it— 

A little child with love that’s true 
Has sent this Birthday Rose to you. 

I hope Mother will be happy when she gets her 
cards, and will be glad that all this year she has 
let us draw! 


THE END 


“When Mother Lets Us” Series 


“WHEN MOTHER LETS US C00K.”-By Constance Johnson. 

An admirable cook book for very young cooks. Of genuine value. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US ACT.”— By Stella George Stern Perry. 

A contribution of great value in amateur dramatics. This is not a book for work, 
it is a book for play. There is nothing to learn by heart in it. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE PAPER-BOX FURNITURE.”-By G. 

Ellingwood Rich, Brooklyn Training School for Teachers. 

This book shows exactly how to make fascinating doll’s furniture out of paper 
boxes and materials which cost nothing. The ideas are new and unique. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE GIFTS ”-By Mary B. Grubb. 

Tells children how to make all sorts of useful and charming things to give their 
parents and friends. No great outlay is required. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE TOYS.”—By G. Ellingwood Rich, Brook¬ 
lyn Training School for Teachers. 

This book is for boys as well as girls. It teaches the youngsters to make good use 
of their time, fingers and the cast-off materials of any household. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE CANDY.”— By Elizabeth & Louise Bache. 

Tells the best and safest way to make all sorts of candy. The little readers are 
given many valuable hints that will help them in all kinds of cooking. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES. ”-By Ida E. Boyd. 

A book that will be a boon to mothers and children on rainy afternoons. A joy to 
the convalescent or sick child. Full of clever ideas. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US KEEP PETS.”-By Constance Johnson. 

All children love animals. This little book teaches the child how to care for the 
various kinds of pets. It is a guide for dog-loving boys and kitten-loving girls alike. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN.”— By Frances Duncan. 

A popular handbook of simple gardening for beginners of all ages. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US SEW.”-By Virginia Ralston (Mrs. Ralston). 

A wonderfully practical book full of ideas that children can easily carry out. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US PLAY.”— By Angela M. Keyes. 

Deals with pantomimes, puppet shows, plays, spinning tales, rhyming, shadow pic¬ 
tures, “what to say” games and many other fascinating plays. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US HELP,”—By Constance Johnson. 

Here are hints for bed-making, cleaning house, sweeping, care of cut flowers and 
house plants, notes on the ice box, the wood box, the pot and pan closet, etc. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US GIVE A PARTY.”-Bj Elsie Duncan Yale. 

A useful book for birthday, Christmas—in fact, for any and every kind of party. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US CARPENTER.”— By John D. Adams. 

A book telling boys and girls how to make many attractive and useful articles with 
few tools and at small expense. Attractively illustrated. 

“ WHEN MOTHER LETS US MODEL.”— By Helen Mortimer Adams. 

A book to teach children the use of clay, giving directions for making practical 
toys and useful objects and graded suggestions for artistic modelling. 

“WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE PLAYTHINGS.”— By G. Ellingwood 

Rich. 

Supplements this author’s earlier book, “WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE 
TOYS,” and will be found of equal interest and value. 

“ WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW.”— By Emma R. Lee Thayer. 

Makes drawing interesting and amusing to children. Develops the “ seeing ” eye 
and guides the little hand. 

Each volume fully illustrated Price 75 cents, net, each 


New York 


MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY 













































































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